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 You know what's cool? Space! Don't try to act like it isn't, because you know drat well that it is. Space has aliens, lasers, spaceships, funky planets, and lots of rocks floating in an endless void. If you don't think that's cool, then you should see a doctor because you're broken. But you know what's also pretty cool? Bounty hunters! Gruff people that live a life on the edge, always on the hunt for some perp and the money on its head. Shooting guns, getting in fights, drinking in shoddy dive bars, being the strong arm of the law, that's the good life! Now, if you are at least a little bit like me, you probably think that it would be sweet to combine those two cool things, right? Boy, do I have good news for you!  Somewhere around the year 2000, Warthog Games had the same idea. They wanted to make an open world game about being a bounty hunter in space. At some point, they seriously described it as "GTA in Space!" The game was supposed to have a reputation system to represent your standing in the galaxy, and catching bounties would make you climb up the ranks. There was also some kind of plot that the player would get roped into along the way. And to sweeten the deal, your character had a big Mexican hat, a popped collar, a slick visor, and a small cape over half of its torso. The ultimate space cowboy outfit, if you ask me. But for some reason that didn't work out, and the game was redesigned. Kind of a shame, because the initial idea was rad as hell. Anyway, what the game ended up being was a mediocre FPS, that wasn't very successful after its release for Playstation 2 and Xbox in 2003. A year later, the promised PC port came out, and the planned Gamecube version was quietly canned somewhere in between. Oh, the cool cowboy outfit was also scrapped, because the developers wanted to make the main character more accessible or something like that. They also enlisted Henry Rollins as the voice actor, and he has the acting talent of a brick in this game. The main selling point was the seamless and fluid transition between space and foot combat, and it's also the only thing that makes this game stand out a bit. Space combat plays a pretty big role, and is honestly fun and well executed for the most part. But on the other hand, the game has a bunch of problems, questionable design choices, wonky mechanics, and the PC version comes with its own list of bugs and glitches. Also, the PC version has lots of signs of being a shoddy port! Yeah, I enjoy this game, but I'm also honest enough to say that it's not that good overall. However, it still has its moments, and a lot of the elements are neat and deserve to be seen. It just falls short when you look at the bigger picture. Still, I think we'll have a fun ride with this! At the very least, we can chuckle at Rollins trying to portrait a hard boiled space bounty hunter.  The background for our story begins 400 years into the future. Having pioneered warp drive technology, mankind has fully explored the Solar System, along with terra forming a number of its planets. Beyond this, a number of neighboring systems have also been chartered. Most contain nothing but lifeless rock, but two of these systems, Dela and Hasali, prove to be rich in resources and life forms. For the first time humans make contact with a number of alien life forms, some of whom get mad at over-zealous colonialists who corrupt and exploit the native species. But 400 years later, the human colonists have become fully integrated with the indigenous life forms. The political and commercial power-bases are established back on earth, but have branches that span all three systems, and employ members of all races. The dominant races are Human, Jaldari, and Valleakan. And with the three systems now fully colonized, the big corporations look out for virgin territory. The Tannan Corporation, the largest conglomerate, launches a series of probes through a prototype light gate, and the Vagner system is discovered. The stampede into the Vagner system has much in common with the North American land rush, but this time instead of homesteaders and prospectors, it's huge conglomerates battling over land and mining rights, with smuggling cartels and pirate clans fighting over whatever's left. It's a new frontier where rules don't exist and everyone's out to make a fast buck. To counter crime, a police force known as Enforcers are established, and sponsored by the major corporations to protect their interests, on the condition that they will also protect law abiding traders and settlers. This motion comes from the political body called the High Senate, who also put in place an elite military service called the Rangers, whose job is to monitor the Enforcers and tackle some of the more serious criminals. We'll be following one such Ranger, named Mace Griffin. What starts off as a normal search and rescue mission, quickly goes south and leads to the loss of his whole unit. But to make matters even worse, Mace is blamed for the whole thing and sentenced to ten years in prison. After his release, he has changed, and so did the galaxy. The Rangers were discredited and eventually disbanded, and the Guild of Bounty Hunters rose in their place. Since the Enforcers were hopelessly overwhelmed with the task of keeping the Vagner system safe, the Guild now does was the Rangers used to do. Though, the Guild is much less concerned with upholding the law or monitoring the Enforcers, and mainly looks out for profit. Mace is out for revenge for being framed, and joining the Guild is his only way to get started. But while he tracks down the pieces of his past, he slowly stumbles into something larger, and much more sinister.  Since the PC version is a shoddy port, I have very little control over the internal audio settings. There are only two sliders, one for the music, and one for everything else. This is kind of a problem, because the internal mix is also terrible. Dialog is often pretty quiet, while other sounds just spike the hell out, and there are no subs in this game. I'm doing my best to fix that with editing, but there are lots of cases where I just can't do anything about it. Like, when somebody is talking and suddenly a noise spike comes from out of nowhere. The intro in the first proper episode is a pretty good representation of what I mean. This is just fyi, and I'm honestly doing what I can to counter it. I thought about adding subs myself, but I already put a lot of time into the videos. Making subs on top of that, would likely either kill my motivation, or make the updates come at a snail's pace. Sorry, not gonna happen. Though, if there is a particularly bad case, I may jump over my shadow and do it for that part. We'll see!  This game has a pretty standard orchestral soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad, but it's just bland and you probably heard similar tracks before. That's why I decided to turn it off, and replace it by music of my own choice! I'm going to stick to Synthie music, since I think that it just fits this game. It's also a cool genre that needs more love. And if you by chance have watched my Shogo LP, you'll know that my taste isn't garbage. If you didn't, then you just have to trust me, okay? I'll always credit all the songs at the end of each epsiode, and you can pretty much find all of them on Youtube. I'm no audio engineer, so my mix probably isn't perfect. But I've spent a lot of time to create a baseline that should be fine for most people/sound systems. If you have a problem with my mix, or just an opinion about it, go ahead and say it! I'm always open to improvement.  This is going to be a pretty chill thread, where we can chat about music, space, bad FPS games, and maybe bounty hunting? I'll probably even post a few rad tracks every now and then, and don't mind other folks doing it. This shouldn't devolve into a PYF thread, but as long as all of us have fun, I'm cool with it. Except, NO SPOILERS! The story isn't going to blow your mind, but should still be experienced without interference. So please don't ruin our space mystery.  Intro & Chapter 1 - Hold Position Post Chapter 2 - Trouble at the Temple Post Post Chapter 3 - Sharp Shooter Post Post Chapter 4 - The Rustlers Post Post Chapter 5 - Gun For Hire Post Post Post Chapter 6 - Clear And Present Ranger Post Post Chapter 7 - Genetics Lab Post Post Chapter 8 - Rescue Krugo Post Post Chapter 9 - Whistleblower Post Post Chapter 10 - Infiltrate The Tannan Corp Post Post Chapter 11 - Face Off Post Post Post Intermission Concept Art & Stuff Info Dump & Music List Cool things vilkacis posted:Burn, baby, burn. vilkacis posted:
Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2013 19:57
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Races of the Vagner system Since this game doesn't have a lot of lore inside or outside, I'll pretty much copy the short descriptions from the manual and add a few lines from me. It isn't much, but it should give you a better picture. Human Settlers - Nearly all humans who come to the Vagner System do so with the same goal: make a new start, forge a new life, and find wealth. Most have little fortune but their skills and grit, and find a place mining or farming for one of the large corporations. Dress in the Vagner System is mostly plain and functional - there is little room for luxury in their lives. With their technical know-how and willingness to tackle the toughest challenge, human settlers tend to work in the engineering side of the colonization effort. Most of the humans that we'll meet, are either hard workers in this new space frontier, or vile mercenaries/bandits that shoot at us. We'll also meet a few powerful and rich individuals, but the majority honestly fits in one of the former two categories. Humanity as a whole, is also pretty much at the top of the galactic chain. The High Senate is based on Earth, and that's where the decisions are made. The Senate does employ members of all races, but humans still seem to call most of the shots. Another part to this is that they invented the warp drive, and kinda educated the other races. So it's a bit like Mass Effect in reverse. Jaldari Settlers - Significant numbers of Jaldari have made their way to Vagner from their home planet of Datrakan, in the Hasali system. Physically they are much stronger and hardier than either humans or Valleakans, and accordingly they are usually employed as manual laborers. Despite their natural size and strength the Jaldari are not naturally aggressive or warlike, although when roused they are fearsome. On their own world, the Jaldari live in sparse rural settlements, and even in the mines and grubby spaceports they walk with the quiet dignity of a proud, independent people. Their culture is a spiritual and mostly peaceful one; in the Vagner system they have grown fond of human beer and classical music. The manual tries to paint the Jaldari as gentle giants, that are a bit primitive and in tune with nature. So they're basically Native American monkey-bears in space. But that doesn't come across that well in the game, because you mainly interact with hostile Jaldari. And those guys are quite brutal and like to gently caress poo poo up. There is one particular mission, where you can see them do things that go against everything that the manual said about them. To be fair, there is at least one example of a friendly Jaldari, but the description in the manual is kinda bullshit. Valleakan Settlers - Travellers in the Vagner system may frequently see a Valleakan handling scientific or financial affairs. This small, agile species originates on the planet Y'trage in the Dela system, where they dwell in small communities in the wetlands. Among spacefarers there is admiration for Valleakan technology and intelligence, but little respect for their ethics - trickery and shrewd trading are valued among the Valleakans in ways that other species (particularly the Jaldari) find difficult to understand. Despite their size, no one should underestimate Valleakean ferocity - these are natural carnivores, and are capable of aggression in both word and deed. In the chaotic, every-humanoid-for-itself Frontier, the Valleakans are thriving. This description is more or less spot on. Valleakans are pretty much cunning space lizards, that like to make money. Moscone is a good representative of his species, in the sense that he values business but probably shouldn't be trusted beyond that. Valleakans are almost as common as humans, and they also frequently accompany mercs or bandit groups. It's all about the cash, remember? Wildlife Arachnids - No one ever properly named these loathsome spider-like pests, and no one knows their exact place of origin. It must lie somewhere in the Vagner system, because shortly after mining began, settlers began discovering them in every ship that traveled in-system, like rats on old sailing ships. Even full depressurization won't always clean a ship out. Their sole virtue is that they feed on cockroaches. Space spiders are jerks. There really isn't more to say about them. Spearlegs - Three-legged beings are relatively rare in explored space, but the spearlegs have proved highly successful in their native biosphere. Moving very quickly on three legs, they are capable of outrunning most prey on the wide-open plains. Their staple diet is a small rodent-like creature that moves among the grasses and burrows in the soft ground, but even a lone spearleg will not scruple to prey on humans, which is one of the reasons Gado ranchers go armed. Also jerks. Gado - Since ancient times, the Jaldari have bred and eaten Gado on their homeworld in the Hasali system, and generations of domestication have made them the perfect cattle. Each of these beasts weighs seven tons, and nearly all of their body mass can be eaten or utilized in some other way, as their skeletal material is extraordinarily strong. Most of their energy and intellect goes toward eating enough grass to sustain their enormous metabolisms. They are now cultivated on dozens of planets and planetoids. Gado ranching requires fast reflexes and strong nerves - even on a good day, their sheer size and clumsiness makes them dangerous, and a panicked gado could easily lay waste a city block. Pretty much the future alternative to cows. Aside from looking like a cross between a turtle and a giraffe, their main feature is that they're kinda cute. Ice Beast - On Korath, the Ice Beast fills roughly the same ecological niche that a polar bear does on earth. These nine-foot-tall shaggy bipeds hibernate throughout most of the day, emerging from their caves to feast on Korattan snappers or any other small prey they can find. On the hunt an ice beast is virtually invisible, and they have been known to pull an ice miner from his post without leaving a trace, beyond a flicker of white motion on a security camera. Their pelts are much prized, but only the bravest will hunt them on the ground. Not to much to say right now, because the one we saw was caged. But maybe, just maybe, we'll get to see a free one later on  It was disappointing.  I'm going to link the songs used in the LP in order of occurrence here. But I guess I should mention that I often do a tiny bit of "remixing" to them, so they fit the videos better. Action Jackson - Start Vestron Vulture - Elizabeth Shaw Bourgeoisie - Industrial Sector 3083 Tommy - High Fidelity DJ Ten - Electric Airglow Forgotten Illusions - Crystal Contour Futurecop! - Maladaptive Daydreaming Note: The version used by me, was a promotional WIP mix that has since been taken offline. Lost Years - Red Horizon DJ Ten - Zioneon DJ Ten - Midnight Drive La Mer des Possibilités Cartridge - Donovan Highway Superstar - Halogen City Analogue Clones - Drifter's Theme Sellorekt - Systematic Mulperi - Maximum Velocity Dynatron - Pulse Power Note: I "missnamed" this one in the credits, because my media tags lied to me. DJ Ten - Zarnold Choppanegger Mega Drive - Chemical Plant Zone (MegaMix) Monomer - Fight of Flight Drifting Dreamer - Runaway NIKY NINE - Ozuwara Theme DANCE WITH THE DEAD - Thrasher Ice Palace - Reruns Hugo Rancho - Quattro Stellar Dreams - The Getaway Solaris Sound System - Everlasting Glory Note: I restructured this song rather heavy. DiGERATi - AutoRun IIIkg Droid Bishop - Nightland Epoch - Zeta Vector Hold - Interstate Amazing Police - Speed In Reverse Note: Another song that I remixed a little bit. Azure Crime - MPH Danger Mode - Burning Rubber Midnight Heir - This Is Vengeance Dance With The Dead - Only A Dream (demo) Zombie Hyperdrive - Skylight Le Matos - Overdog Shyguys - Journey Renegade - Convict Bestrack - Workout 2000 Ryan Riot - Loading Procedure Perturbator - Miami Disco Lazerhawk - Fight To The Top CARPENTER BRUT - SexKiller On The Loose Evanton - Melody Of Life WARD IZ - The Chase Sayak Striker - Hot Run Miami Night 1984 - Reflex Training Note: Another heavy edit of mine. Perturbator - She Moves Like A Knife KN1GHT - Hawk Road (Original Mix) Mitch Murder feat. EEL - Galaxy Train 1989 Vector Hold - Dangerously Close Swagbot - RockNRolla Ward Iz - Let's Roll! Thomas Barrandon - Feed To Kill Note: The next of my edits. Le Matos - 58 Minutes pour vivre APEX 86 - Hot Nights Kruiser - Before Midnight Airglow - Cepheid Disk Ex-Machina - Cyberpower MK Ultra - Redline Hero Myrone - The Pump Master Mr. Flash - Payback No crAss - Nova Phaeleh - Should Be True Daniel Deluxe - King Cyborg City Project - Dirty Workout MUSCLE - Steamrollin' Mega Corp - Last Level Last Life S U N G - Way Farer Myrone - Heating Up Game Of Thrones - Super Audio Time! 1986 Remix Mowelan - Desert Drift Jungle Fiction - Transhuman NightStop - PoWer Prostitute Tokyo Rose - Zender Overdrive LA Dreams - When I'm With You CASTROE - R3303V5000 Scattle - Bloodline DANCE WITH THE DEAD - Andromeda DANCE WITH THE DEAD - Invader Note: The last of my edits. Niky Nine - 909 & Heartbreak Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone (Chainsmokers Rmx) Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Dec 19, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2013 19:57
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 Intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wj58BilO-w You honestly don't need to watch it, as everything that's said in there, will be repeated. It also wants to make the game look better than it actually is! It's not a bad intro, just kinda unnecessary  Chapter 1 - Hold Position https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5adGHxpfz0 We join our hero during a seemingly normal search and rescue mission, but things quickly go south, and he finds himself in a really bad situation.
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Dec 6, 2013 19:57
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Ruff_Hunter posted:This is one of my all time favourite games. Like you said it's pretty mediocre in places but some moments really shine. SineRider posted:Man, you were not kidding about the awful audio mix in this game. Just the opening cutscene alone is proof of that.  Kuno posted:I'd turn the music down, just a notch. TehGherkin posted:Haven't seen this game in years, had it on PS2 ages ago, never got more than halfway through it, I should try and track a copy down on PC, I bet I could beat it with m+kb. I'll write a few words about the aiming thing in a couple of days, when I collected my thoughts and formed them into something coherent. I'll also do a bit of an info dump in the second post. Like a few words about the alien races, and notable people or organizations. This game does have a unique universe, it just doesn't do a whole lot to make use of that. So I'll at least flesh out the pieces that are there. Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Dec 8, 2013 |
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Dec 8, 2013 03:04
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Chapter 2 - Trouble at the Temple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBH_GbWOKKg After being released from space prison, Mace now starts his new career as a bounty hunter. If he wants to get his revenge, he'll need some money and firepower. And the Guild always has a job for people like him. His first job takes him to a temple ship, whose inhabitants have gone berserk after somebody hacked the mainframe that they're all linked to. Races of the Vagner system Since this game doesn't have a lot of lore inside or outside, I'll pretty much copy the short descriptions from the manual and add a few lines from me. It isn't much, but it should give you a better picture. Human Settlers - Nearly all humans who come to the Vagner System do so with the same goal: make a new start, forge a new life, and find wealth. Most have little fortune but their skills and grit, and find a place mining or farming for one of the large corporations. Dress in the Vagner System is mostly plain and functional - there is little room for luxury in their lives. With their technical know-how and willingness to tackle the toughest challenge, human settlers tend to work in the engineering side of the colonization effort. Most of the humans that we'll meet, are either hard workers in this new space frontier, or vile mercenaries/bandits that shoot at us. We'll also meet a few powerful and rich individuals, but the majority honestly fits in one of the former two categories. Humanity as a whole, is also pretty much at the top of the galactic chain. The High Senate is based on Earth, and that's where the decisions are made. The Senate does employ members of all races, but humans still seem to call most of the shots. Another part to this is that they invented the warp drive, and kinda educated the other races. So it's a bit like Mass Effect in reverse. Jaldari Settlers - Significant numbers of Jaldari have made their way to Vagner from their home planet of Datrakan, in the Hasali system. Physically they are much stronger and hardier than either humans or Valleakans, and accordingly they are usually employed as manual laborers. Despite their natural size and strength the Jaldari are not naturally aggressive or warlike, although when roused they are fearsome. On their own world, the Jaldari live in sparse rural settlements, and even in the mines and grubby spaceports they walk with the quiet dignity of a proud, independent people. Their culture is a spiritual and mostly peaceful one; in the Vagner system they have grown fond of human beer and classical music. The manual tries to paint the Jaldari as gentle giants, that are a bit primitive and in tune with nature. So they're basically Native American monkey-bears in space. But that doesn't come across that well in the game, because you mainly interact with hostile Jaldari. And those guys are quite brutal and like to gently caress poo poo up. There is one particular mission, where you can see them do things that go against everything that the manual said about them. To be fair, there is at least one example of a friendly Jaldari, but the description in the manual is kinda bullshit. Valleakan Settlers - Travellers in the Vagner system may frequently see a Valleakan handling scientific or financial affairs. This small, agile species originates on the planet Y'trage in the Dela system, where they dwell in small communities in the wetlands. Among spacefarers there is admiration for Valleakan technology and intelligence, but little respect for their ethics - trickery and shrewd trading are valued among the Valleakans in ways that other species (particularly the Jaldari) find difficult to understand. Despite their size, no one should underestimate Valleakean ferocity - these are natural carnivores, and are capable of aggression in both word and deed. In the chaotic, every-humanoid-for-itself Frontier, the Valleakans are thriving. This description is more or less spot on. Valleakans are pretty much cunning space lizards, that like to make money. Moscone is a good representative of his species, in the sense that he values business but probably shouldn't be trusted beyond that. Valleakans are almost as common as humans, and they also frequently accompany mercs or bandit groups. It's all about the cash, remember? Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 14, 2013 |
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Dec 14, 2013 01:41
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MinistryofLard posted:Is it possible to interact with the NPCs aboard the space station or on the shuttle at all, or are they just sprites with no extra coding? Phrosphor posted:I am really loving the soundtrack, thanks for putting it in. I always thought this game was actually part of the Star Wars franchise, even thought I had never played it.  Polaron posted:Man, say what you will about this game but it has some really strong visual design. The assault rifle, the ships, those cultists and their emoticon masks, it all has a very cool look to it. I never beat this game (I got stuck and all I remember is a lot of rock walls and snipers) so I'm looking forward to seeing you do so. It's so disappointing that it wasn't a better game, because it had such potential. Also, I think I know which level you mean. And if I'm right, than it's the third chapter. Which is coincidentally the worst level of the whole game  vilkacis posted:This is not the Anime girl of my dreams, curse you Tin Tim  Also, two random picks from my playlist while I'm getting ready for a night out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b7cj4zWiyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyZQUEMZlCU
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Dec 14, 2013 17:02
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ElTipejoLoco posted:I'm surprised you can't lower the volume of some of the longer and louder sound effects which drown out everything, added music included. Doesn't help that the main offenders are space ships with a tendency to fly close to the 'camera' from off-screen during any cinematic scene. Hyperman1992 posted:Wow that soundtrack you made for it Tin Tim! I'm really digging it. Is there a way you can make it into a youtube playlist as you go or something? I'd love to listen to the soundtrack.
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Dec 14, 2013 19:46
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Kai-Len Voss posted:When I was a kid, an issue of Official Xbox Magazine had this level as the Mace Griffin demo on their demo disk. Teenage me thought it was the poo poo that you could step out of the pilot's seat in the middle of flight/combat. Granted, there wasn't really much use but I assumed that it served a larger purpose in the proper game, being hyped as GTA in space and all. So I went and bought the game AND the strategy guide. My first experience with gaming hype and disappointment SSNeoman posted:It would be useful if you got boarded! Use lasers to fend off ships and when some assholes stick to your ship, you step away and take care of them the usual way! Also it's funny that you mention Mass Effect, because I found this post while doing research A person on a Mass Effect wiki posted:Iv just started playing mace griffin again as i have missed it and iv noticed some similarities between that and mass effect for starters if you look at the game cover for mace griffin it looks pretty much the same style as the ME3 N7 edition cover , except Shepard had an omni blade and not to mention that they look a lil similar, and also the Ranger ship that Mace uses kinda has a similar style to the Normandy iv only just started playing mace griffin bounty hunter but im curious to see if there are any more im not having a go at bioware in anyway . i am a massive ME fanbot i will admit and companies and designers do use other game as inspiration but still just wondered if anyone else had noticed at all Lazyfire posted:Sound design back then and in-game audio options were weird and inconsistent. 
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Dec 19, 2013 02:08
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Chapter 2 - Trouble at the Temple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIi3yIPnUVU With the original route to the mainframe blocked off, Mace has to enter the Temple ship from the top and look for another way. Will he be able to stop the dastardly hacker and save at least some of the space cultists? Question At the end of the level, Eridium gets mentioned. This material got kinda famous after being heavily used in the plot and gameplay of Borderlands 2. I tried to research if it gets mentioned in any other game/movie/story, but Google is just so plastered with hits about Borderlands, that I didn't get anywhere. So, do you know if it's featured anywhere else?
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Dec 19, 2013 02:08
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Polaron posted:I am reasonably confident in guessing that they meant Iridium, which is a real substance with a number of scientific uses. It's just pronounced exactly the same  SSNeoman posted:Because it's such an interesting and unique pose that hasn't been used in any other box art ever. Another Person posted:I remember owning and getting owned by this game - the guns and aiming I just couldn't hack, so I gave up on the second level. The game looks generic as hell, so maybe I am lucky I did. I'm mostly keeping up with this LP for the soundtrack now. Also, good catch about the explosion effects! If you keep an eye out for it, you can see a bunch of graphical problems. For instance, right at the end of the last episode, there was still a bit of fog after the combat which also made an asteriod look weird, and then it just disapeared. You can also observe little objects, like doors on space ships, phase in and out of existence regularly. And during editing, I noticed that most cutscenes have an odd frame before them, where you can see your model get placed or other weird poo poo. It's still a few episodes away, but I encountered a pretty serious bug where the level around me flipped its poo poo, and then threw me into the black abyss. What I'm saying is that this game wasn't made very well!  Jfyi, I've linked the songs we heard so far in the second post, and will continue to do so.
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Dec 19, 2013 15:48
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Aim Chat In the opening of the first video, I mentioned that aiming in this game feels kinda weird and is something that you have to get used to. Why? Well, if I had to pin a single reason, then I'd say it's because the game was developed for consoles, and wasn't ported to the PC with a lot of care. The first thing I noticed, was that the relation between mouse and crosshair movement is weird. "That's what the sensitivity slider is for, you idiot!" True, but it's not as simple as that. See, I've been playing FPS games since Doom 2 was a new and hot thing. Since then, I've developed a feeling for what sensitivity I need, and it's pretty consistent across the different games I play. But I had to fiddle really long with the sensitivity slider in this game! It just felt alien to me, and it's kinda hard to convey that feeling with words. So I spent a bit of time to find a setting that works for me, and I honestly can't recall another game which had me do that. At least not from the top of my head. But why is it like that? Well, as said I think it's related to the bad port. I'm not educated about the finer processes behind making a video game, but I imagine that you have to design the movement for sticks on a controller differently than for a mouse. And I think the devs just didn't port that aspect with a lot of care. But that's not the only problem. The console version of this game had auto aim, and I'm convinced that some sections are designed with this in mind. Some of the space sections are really hard, because they put you on a tight time limit, and throw lots of targets at you. You either need to practice those sections a lot, or just be incredibly gifted at shooting pixels. But how does this factor into the normal gunplay? Well, the devs just deactivated(read: you can't access it) auto aim for the PC version, and I believe that they not removed it fully. You probably won't notice that while watching the videos, but sometimes your crosshair stops a few pixels short of what you're aiming at. Like, I think that the game expects the auto aim to kick in at this point, and stops your movement due to that. It doesn't always happen, but it's frequent enough that I noticed it. So I developed the habit to "over aim" a little bit in this game. I know this sounds weird, but moving my crosshair a tiny bit farther than what I would normally do, gives me a much better rate of getting centered hits. Okay, now you know my thoughts on the matter. However, I'm aware that it could just be my personal perception, and that I'm maybe too nitpicky when it comes to FPS games. But then again, a few other posters already said that they had issues with the gunplay in this game. So I can't be totally wrong here, right? 
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Dec 25, 2013 21:22
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Sorry for the delay on that post! I don't want to say too much about my personal life, but some sad poo poo happened to a friend of mine and I didn't felt like doing LP things. Lazyfire posted:The gunplay really looks like it would make the game stupid hard in some scenarios. The standard assault rifle losing accuracy as you fire it in longer bursts along with the enemies taking a significant number of bullets to kill is a bad idea for the gun you expect players to spend most of their time using. I'll also agree that the game isn't as generic as the first level made it seem after getting away from the "Exploding space ship" level that every sci-fi game has to include by law. I find it interesting to learn about things like that. It's easy to look at some stuff, and think it's bad design or whatever. But that leaves out the perspective of the times. Like, our current state of games is so advanced, that a lot of older games appear as pieces of poo poo. But in the perspective of their time, they had some clever ideas and tricks in them. But you're right about the assault rifle! It's really your workhorse, but you will start to curse it in the later stages of the game. Right now I still have plenty of rifle grenades to chuck at shielded enemies, but that'll change. And most of them are horrible bullet-sponges. Kai-Len Voss posted:
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Dec 25, 2013 21:47
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Chapter 3 - Sharp Shooter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWT0zZgbBY4 His next job sends Mace to a troubled mining outpost. A group of bandits have invaded, and rigged the solar shield generator with explosives. If their demand for money is not met, they'll blow the shield and the outpost gets fried. And Mace also has a personal interest in this job, because the leader of the bandits is apparently an ex-ranger! Wildlife Arachnids - No one ever properly named these loathsome spider-like pests, and no one knows their exact place of origin. It must lie somewhere in the Vagner system, because shortly after mining began, settlers began discovering them in every ship that traveled in-system, like rats on old sailing ships. Even full depressurization won't always clean a ship out. Their sole virtue is that they feed on cockroaches. Space spiders are jerks. There really isn't more to say about them. Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Dec 28, 2013 04:09
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JossiRossi posted:Man, how did I miss a Tin Tim thread? This temp job has finally become too detrimental to me. Hey Rossi, I miss the Sleeping Dogs thread 
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Dec 28, 2013 04:15
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Glad it'll be over soon.
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JossiRossi posted:A couple more days and we'll be back to banging (on the drum)! Lazyfire posted:Gotta love early 2000's game design: If you don't know something is going to happen you are hosed. If you know something is going to happen we made it difficult enough that you may be hosed. Enjoy the checkpoint four setpieces back! Kiavahr posted:Also, I think I can partially explain why this game misses the mark as an FPS. The developers may have been competent, but their problem was more that they were outside of their genre comfort zone. See, Warthog fell under the umbrella of Digital Anvil, which was Chris Roberts' company after he left Origin. That means this game was made by the same people who made Starlancer and the later Wing Commander and Privateer games - space sims, the lot of them. You can definitely see it when comparing the polish levels between the flight and foot sections. Also here's a song I've been bumping a lot today. Can't use it in the LP because it has lyrics, and the lyrics are also kinda funny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNVGfV2lXVY
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Dec 29, 2013 19:58
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Chapter 3 - Sharp Shooter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKY1TSCk7FU After fighting his way through the outskirts of the colony, Mace now makes his way into the mines, to look for a route to the command center. Cantrell and his goons are holed up in there, and they have probably figured out that Mace is on the way. Can he stop them before they flee and nuke the whole colony? Wildlife Spearlegs - Three-legged beings are relatively rare in explored space, but the spearlegs have proved highly successful in their native biosphere. Moving very quickly on three legs, they are capable of outrunning most prey on the wide-open plains. Their staple diet is a small rodent-like creature that moves among the grasses and burrows in the soft ground, but even a lone spearleg will not scruple to prey on humans, which is one of the reasons Gado ranchers go armed. Also jerks. Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 22:12
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Sorry for the delay, but editing and uploading this one was a bitch. There just wasn't a good split point, so this one is longer than I usually like my videos to be.Polaron posted:Yeah, this is definitely the level that caused me to stop playing the game back when it first came out. I'm getting flashbacks because of all those snipers In other news, people who dig the music, can check out this thread in GBS. I had a slow start, but now people are posting good jams and movies. Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 22:14
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Hey folks, just wanna say that there won't be an update this week. I'm basically neck-deep in work, and just couldn't find the time to record commentary. I'll be kinda busy for a while longer, but I should manage to bang out an update sometime next week.Kuno posted:Watching this kind of makes me want a next/current gen sequel. Especially if it had a snazzy electronic soundtrack. your evil twin posted:If this was the worst level in the game, that bodes very well for the rest, since your commentary, playstyle and choice of soundtrack made that entirely bearable. (While the prologue and the first mission looked like a decent amount of fun.) Lazyfire posted:Yeah, the number of times the words "You have to be careful in this room" were spoken was kind of nuts when you think about it. One of those things about game design is you don't want to break up the flow of a level too much, and this level did an amazing job of ignoring that rule. I can see why it is considered one of the worst in the game. I also have major issues with the part where you have to chase Cantrell. Putting pressure on the player is actually a good idea, don't get me wrong there, but the timer is incredibly tight, and you have to perform a very specific set of actions to beat this part. It might have looked easy since I still had like 40 seconds left, but you really have to take into account that I practiced it a bunch of times. I mean, let's look at what allowed me to beat this. - Killing the goons right at the start. You fail if they reach the ship, and using your bullet weapons will take longer and possibly allows the timer to kick in. And when their elevator goes down to a certain point, you pretty much have to snipe them. Which is especially fun when you have to target tiny people that sprint along the path to the ship. - I knew how to handle the glass. This may seem simple, but at first you'll probably panick and need to figure out how to get out of the room. - I knew about the rocket launcher in the elevator corridor. Dick move, nothing else to say about it. - I cheesed the elevator. This is mainly a little trick, but it's kinda awful that the devs didn't really account for the time that the elevator ride requires. And as you could see, buttons can sometimes glitch out and need a moment before you can activate them. - I practiced flying through the tunnel at full speed. The first part is not too bad, but there are some turns that you can't really see coming. Crashing into the walls will cost you a lot of time. - I knew where Cantrell would be and could shoot him right away. You can see me reducing the speed when I leave the tunnel, knowing full well where I had to aim. If you fail at any of these things, you probably have to bang your head against this part a whole lot. And it's just bad design to not give the player a little room for error in a section like this. Like, putting another minute on the timer would have helped a whole lot. It would still be a stressful section, but you could gently caress up a little bit without ruining the whole thing. Or at least you'd have to try fewer times overall. And while I'm speaking about Cantrell, gently caress the game for handling him so poorly. He had a cool and smug British voice actor, and could have actually played a meaningful part in the story. You know, because he's an ex Ranger and all that? But nope! He gives us a cryptic hint and is immediately killed. your evil twin posted:I've gotta say I really love that Assault Rifle with gatling/minigun barrels. When I first saw it I was immediately reminded of the movie "Deep Rising". It's a fun horror/action movie where a bunch of modern-day pirates try to rob a huge luxury liner but discover that everyone on board has been killed by tentacle monsters. The filmmakers wanted the characters to be able to wildly spray gazillions of bullets over the course of the film without needing to reload every few seconds, so they gave them fictional "Chinese M1-L1 triple-pulse assault rifles", minigun assault rifles with thousand-round magazines. (Of course, such a thing is physically impossible, in reality the props used 100-round Calico SMG magazines.) And yes, they fire enough bullets that they occasionally need to reload fresh thousand-round magazines. your evil twin posted:Anyway, back to Mace Griffin's version... the feature where it spins faster and faster is a cool idea, and you commented in the first video on how "there is something very visceral and rewarding about firing the assault rifle with the maximum spin" and I wholeheartedly agree, I enjoyed the few occasions where you did that in the videos so far. (And there's actually some sort of heat/spin meter on the side, letting you know how close you are to super-speed. Dunno if it is actually useful, but it's a nice detail.) I actually don't know if the lights are connected to the fire rate, at least I never payed attention to them while shooting. But I really like the overall animations and textures for the weapons! You can't knock the devs on this part. I honestly appreciate it that you can see each rocket move through the magazine of the laucnher, and there's also a little window below it which let's you see the rocket in the chamber. I just dig little details like that. Each weapon also has a set of idle animations, and some weapons get more than others. For example, the pistol has a pretty wide range of idle animations, which also includes how Mace opens the drum to check how many rounds are in it, and the good old one handed cowboy-spin. And I also like how smooth the animation is when you change your weapons. The menu is kinda garbage to navigate with your mouse wheel, but the switching animation is pretty darn fluid. Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jan 10, 2014 |
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Jan 10, 2014 23:09
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Chapter 4 - The Rustlers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRGX_ZHnMh4 His next job takes Mace to a ranch inside of an asteroid called New Idaho. An independant Gado rancher has gotten a tip about a band of rustlers that plan to steal his livestock. He wants Mace to provide additional protection, while his herd is being moved. Wildlife Gado - Since ancient times, the Jaldari have bred and eaten Gado on their homeworld in the Hasali system, and generations of domestication have made them the perfect cattle. Each of these beasts weighs seven tons, and nearly all of their body mass can be eaten or utilized in some other way, as their skeletal material is extraordinarily strong. Most of their energy and intellect goes toward eating enough grass to sustain their enormous metabolisms. They are now cultivated on dozens of planets and planetoids. Gado ranching requires fast reflexes and strong nerves - even on a good day, their sheer size and clumsiness makes them dangerous, and a panicked gado could easily lay waste a city block. Pretty much the future alternative to cows. Aside from looking like a cross between a turtle and a giraffe, their main feature is that they're kinda cute.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:35
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As it turns out, you guys are almost right. I made some highly scientific tests, to see what's up with this level. See, while there are some civis that you're not allowed to kill, there really is no real pattern to it. Just being unarmed really isn't a general trigger. Look at this.  This is an unarmed guy in the hangar, right after Mace has landed. And sure enough, killing him actually fails the mission. Really wouldn't have expected that, as you'll understand in a moment. And this is right after the cutscene where McQueen told us our mission.  I'd say that guy qualifies as unarmed. The animation from the other guy was just a lucky coincidence I went on a little rampage, and killed all the guys around which included McQueen, but the game didn't care. McQueen's ghost yelled at me to watch my fire, but that's about it. I did the same thing when I was practicing the level, and that's why I thought that the warning was bullshit. There are several levels where you'll get warned about not killing civis, but I can only recall one level where it's actually a global rule. In the other levels, it's the same as here. And the only kind of pattern I could see in those levels, is that killing civis in sections where actual combat is happening, or will happen later, does not lead to failure. I guess the devs didn't want to annoy players too much, because failing a mission when a civi catches a stray bullet is lame. And really, if you snuff a civi in some dark corner of the level, who should know? In other news, I found out that Gado are actually immortal, but do a flinching animation when you shoot them a bunch.  
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Jan 22, 2014 22:35
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your evil twin posted:Loading the shotgun with multiple shells is a cool mechanic, though kinda awkward since it fires them in series rather than doing one massive blast. Reminds me of the riot shotgun in old Shadow Warrior. (Or the hilariously dumb shotgun revolver from Daikatana that would always fire all 6 shots!) The fact that you can choose to load just 2 or 3 shots rather than all 4 is pretty good. And we'll see combat in the briefing room near the end of the level. When McQueen said that he was pinned down in operations, he was actually refering to that area, but it's not very obvious. Sarkozymandias posted:For some reason I find myself hating this game for reasons I can't fully articulate at this time. It sucks because it's making it hard to pay attention to this LP even though your Shogo one is an absolute favorite of mine Dunno, maybe you'll like the game more when the plot actually happens? The next chapter is pretty cool, and also kicks off the plot, albeit at its end. And I really don't know if I'll do another Monolith game. I mean, there isn't that much left tbh. It would really be a toss between No Lives Forever or Blood 2. I just never was too big on NOLF, and don't think that I can carry Blood 2 on my own. So yeah, probably not going to happen. With that said though, rest assured that I have other old and obscure FPS games in my collection. And when it comes to why I like this game, I pretty much side with what Evil Twin and fullTimeLurker said. The game has a bunch of things that I like, so I'm okay with looking past its flaws. However, taste is certainly a valid reason for not liking it, and when it just doesn't hit your mark, then that's just the way it is. Teledahn posted:Tin Tim does Lps right! 
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Jan 24, 2014 15:11
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Chapter 4 - The Rustlers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVOVQkHJybY After a large scale assault on his Gado ranch, Mcqueen and his staff find themselves pinned by the bandit troops. Mace is trying to find a way to their position, but the bandits took control over most of the security systems in the ranch, and so he has to get by a few obstacles. And to make matters even worse, other parts of the bandit group are currently moving the Gado herd into their own transport ship.
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Jan 27, 2014 00:29
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Dakammer posted:Breaking gravity out in space is, I guess, the most reasonable bug? Pretty spectacular all the same. your evil twin posted:Heh, those Gado really are cute, and their moaning occasionally in the Rustlers' ship was a nice touch.  Kuno posted:Also in general it looks like there are only two slots left for weapons which seems a bit lame since pistol, shotgun, ar, sniper rifle, rocket launcher is a bit meat and potatoes. Glazius posted:I think the thing that makes the game seem the most vertigo-inducing is that the HUD wobbles around along with your camera. I wonder what they were thinking. I'm real glad that I'm usually not affected by motion sickness, but I'd guess that this game can be really awful for people who are. Jade Star posted:"Activate the mobile chainsaw and ride it to the far side of the slaughter pit." Also, how's your hand doing? Action Tortoise posted:I just wanted to say that I really like your choices for tracks. I don't know anything about synth music but I immediately recognized a Chemical Plant Zone remix and that's my favorite BGM from Sonic 2.
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Jan 29, 2014 15:31
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Lazyfire posted:Man, I'm starting to get the idea that the Mace Griffin devs never really thought out the level design. I still maintain that if you don't know exactly where to expect enemies with sniper rifles and such you would probably be dead 100 times over in a number of these sections. And on the topic of design, you're right but there is one redeeming factor. At least on normal, Mace is tanky enough that you can flee from most ambushes, regain your shield and then beat it. Of course, you can always catch a grenade with your face, but that's not too common. I'm not saying that it's good design in any way, but the enemy placement in other games can be a lot worse. Shogo would be a good example, I kept a death counter in that game for a reason.
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Jan 29, 2014 16:19
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No problem, I'm from Germany. Also, there'll probably be an update on the weekend. Depends on if I have some quiet time to record my words.
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Jan 31, 2014 19:25
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Diogenes Bub posted:So this is my first Tin Tim LP and I've gotta say, I'm really enjoying it. I mean the game is kinda generic apart from those sweet space-to-on-foot transitions, but you're making it a pleasure to watch. The commentary is relevant and entertaining (the cool accent doesn't hurt either) and your music choices are spot on. They manage to give the game a pace and momentum which it probably wouldn't have otherwise. Yeah, the plot will start with the next video. It's not immediately apparent, but trust me, it is there. I don't want to go ahead and spoil all of it, but the plot isn't that good. Though, it will at least have a twist that you really can't predict easily. So there is that. Sorry for the delay, but things happened. I'm currently editing the next episode, and will post it sometime tomorrow.
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Feb 4, 2014 19:35
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Chapter 5 - Gun For Hire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkne0j9PzGY For his next job, Mace gets hired as a bodyguard for a mysterious but wealthy client of the Guild. His employer awaits him on the famous Utari Cloudwatcher, which is a luxury cruise liner that allows its passengers to take advantage of the rejuvenating effects of the Utari Nebula.
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Feb 6, 2014 19:23
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your evil twin posted:Haha, it's hilarious that they remove the ceiling and offer no explanation for that. Even if the real reason was so that they could set up that dropship attack, there's loads of in-universe ways that could have been explained. Yeah, I wished that the devs had done at least something about the ceiling. I mean, the laziest option would really have been to add a voice clip that told you about an invisible force field. But as it stands, we just have to imagine it. And there will be at least one other instance where you wonder why space isn't suffocating you right now. And gently caress that steam room, seriously. Aside from being a ham-fisted objective, it's real annoying when games do that. I have some things to say about the general level design, and why it's flawed in a few ways. A lot of it comes down to Warthog's previous game list not having a single FPS title in it. I'll see if the next video will give me some room to get into that. Kiavahr posted:At least the devs were kind enough to make the enemies and friendlies visually distinct this time. I don't think I saw you put a bullet in anyone you weren't supposed to. (Grenades though...)
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Feb 10, 2014 21:02
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Clintodon posted:Just found this and started going through the videos; add another approval to the pile of "nice music replacement" responses!  I never heard of this, and no, it's definitely not in the PC version. The manual or control setup has no mention of it, and I tried using the target lock button for the ship while on foot too. But nope, no locking for me. I guess that it got removed when the whole autoaim part was ripped out for the PC port? Also, sorry for yet another delay. Work stress and poo poo has got me editing at a snail's pace. But the next episode will be up in a day or two
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Feb 13, 2014 21:58
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Chapter 5 - Gun For Hire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An6YB2XcWKI After saving his new employer from being assassinated, and stopping the cruise liner from steering into the nebula, Mace's job still isn't done. The assassins have sabotaged the inner gyroscope of the ship, and if Mace can't get to it in time to fix it, the ship will spin out of control! However, the direct route is blocked, so he has to get to his ship and use it to dock with another section of the cruise liner.
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Feb 16, 2014 01:59
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vilkacis posted:It is pretty neat seeing all those different environments inside the ship, and the difference between gilded passenger areas and plain metal walls in the engineering parts. I like that quite a bit. StarFyter posted:I just have to say, this and your Shogo LP both have provided a lot of artists to follow, thank you very much for going through the trouble of adding different music to the videos your evil twin posted:There's something fun about having big gun battles in expensive-looking decorated surroundings like a mansion or art gallery, or in this case the luxurious sections of the ship. Much more interesting than the corridors or warehouses or war-torn streets of most shooters. AltaBrown posted:Time for a bit of Lazyfire posted:So let's note I'm not a game developer, but I've learned a ton over the last year or so while trying to figure out tricks developers used to make some games run on limited hardware. Clintodon posted:I think you're right and the machine-gun's lock-on got pitched out with the auto-aim because I can't think of another reason not to include it. It's disappointing; the lock-on was the machine-gun's selling point and unique cool feature vs. other FPS machine-gun versions. I can't think of another game that's used the lock-on/replay feature for a weapon either. 
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Feb 18, 2014 20:49
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Chapter 5 - Gun For Hire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxTXsZYTRzc After saving the ship for the second time, Mace still can't relax. As it turns out, his employer decided to flee the ship in a small shuttle, and is now being hunted by the bandit fighters around the cruise liner! Note: Reinhold's a dumb butt
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Feb 23, 2014 01:01
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your evil twin posted:There's no way to tell in that Xbox video whether the lock-on feature affects the weapon spread since the guy is running right up to the enemies and then then shooting them at point blank range. (I checked the guy's previous video, he was wrestling with the controls because he forgot to invert them. Hmm, surely if you are recording gameplay footage and you are running into walls because the controls are upside down, might be a good idea to start over? Nope, just stick it on the internet...) Soup Inspector posted:As for the plasma machine gun, am I the only one who sees a slight resemblance to a retro ray gun? Lazyfire posted:This seems way more likely. If the devs were lazy they simply stripped out auto aim from the PC version, which had the unintended effect of removing finessed lock on from the Xbox version because it was just auto aim targeted at a specific area. I could nearly promise that either the function of the button or the auto aim code was stripped from the PC version's code. Not both, just one of them because it would require less effort. Hell, they could just make the targeting button unmappable and solve the entire problem with a few lines of code.
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Feb 23, 2014 01:26
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- Concept Art & Stuff - As usual, I did a bit of research before starting this thread. I collected a few bits and pieces that I want to show to you. If you don't care about concept designs and things like that, just skip this update. It's okay Character Design In the OP, I mentioned that Mace initially looked a bit different, and that his model got changed during the development process. That isn't an uncommon thing, but I think that it got worse after the change. Let's take a look at an early concept drawing of Mace.  That's quite a bit different, isn't it? And this concept was not only made on paper, it had an actual 3D model.  Just look at that cool guy!  If that isn't the perfect look for a gruff space bounty hunter, then I don't know what is. Traces of his old model can even be found in some promotional things   I like the silhouette in the title, and the poster is great all around. However, the devs thought that Mace wouldn't be accessible enough with that look. I've taken that statement from an old interview, so I'm not even sure what it should mean. Like, I guess that they wanted people to like Mace and turn him into a franchise? But I think they ended up making him rather bland, and removed what defining features he had. Also, how can you not love that little cape? Seriously. I could do without the hat+visor combo, but the cape and the details on the model are rad. Development Since the game was never very popular, it's hard to find exact info about the development process behind it. But Giant Bomb has the game tagged with "Development Hell", so I think it's okay to assume that the road wasn't straight. I really couldn't find any words about the matter, but there actually is a surprisingly large number of pictures from older builds still on the net.   These screens are from the original pitch demo for the game. The graphics are pretty rough, and lol at that UI. But there is one kinda interesting thing about those screens, because Moscone apparently was initially supposed to be a human.   The graphics of this build are much more refined, so I assume that it's the last promo/demo version, and came out somewhat before the final build. I mean, aside from the UI, it's very similar. Concept Art I really like looking at concept art, so I was glad that I could still find some from this game.       There aren't a lot of sketches still floating around, but I think those are pretty neat! However, I was also able find the page from the person that we can thank for all the nifty weapon designs and for most of the objects. Harold Withers, has a lot of pictures and words about his part in Mace Griffin, so I'm going to link & quote those for your convenience. I guess some of the stuff has minor spoilers, but it really shouldn't be an issue, as most of it is out of context. quote:This was my first games industry project. Interesting that he says that the development process took three years. I really have no inside knowledge of the industry, but I guess that kinda supports my theory about a rocky development road. Anyway, let's dive into the weapons first. quote:My first major art task on MGBH was working up the hand weapon concepts. Concept sketches It's neat that he talks a bit about weapon concepts that didn't make it into the game. The last one sounds really cool, but I can see how actually implementing it would have been difficult. quote:I had a flare for weapons design at the concept stage, so I soon got building them. 3D models And now we know why you can't pick up the Jaldari plasma guns! quote:As the concept phase continued I worked on ship & space installation design. Concept sketches quote:With the weapons done it was time to move on to objects. 3D models The cut level he talks about sounds pretty interesting! quote:The Stasis Pods are another object from the Osiren level. 3D models quote:Variations on the crate would come next to show some real diversity between levels. 3D models This gives us a little insight on one of the stronger elements of this game - the diverse settings. I said it before, but you really can't knock the visual design. I guess you could say the the graphics ended up a little bland somehow and that the design could have gone deeper, but that's kinda nitpicking. quote:This page features a selection of screenshots from the game. 3D models and stuff And that's it! I'm really glad that I found this page, and could give you a little look behind the scenes. Though, maybe that stuff is only interesting to me, because I'm a big nerd for details like that The Comic I mentioned this in a post a while ago, but yes, there actually was a comic about Mace Griffin. Behold!   I tried really hard, but you can't find scans from this. It also has only one released issue, which isn't that big of a surprise. I was still able to collect some bits about this comic though, so let's check them out! quote:Mace Griffin has had a hard life. Driven from his family home by the corrupt Enforcers, Mace joins up with the peace-keeping force known as The Rangers. But before Mace can use his training to it's fullest, he is framed for the death of his Ranger squad. Mace now has to face 5 years in a dangerous prison. If he survives his sentence, there is only one place left to turn, only one last hope of righting all the wrongs in his life. That hope is with the Bounty Hunters Guild, and with a new life, as Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter. Based on the hit video game from Universal Interactive! This is a plot synopsis. It's more or less faithful to the game, except that it also details Mace's prior life. And while I couldn't find scans from the actual comic, I was able to find some black & white sketch pages that are up for sale in some old corner of the internet.     Those pics don't have a very high resolution, but still look like a cool comic that I would have bought back in the days. Interestingly enough, some known people were also involved with making it. David Wohl was one of the writers, and Cedric Nocon did the illustrations. But in the end, it's kinda strange that this comic was made in the first place. I mean, are there any other video games that also tried to launch a comic series alongside? I guess this plays into the fact that the developers tried to establish Mace as a legit action hero, and wanted to turn him into a franchise. Welp, that's all the  I have for this game. Hope you enjoyed some of it!
Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Feb 28, 2014 |
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Feb 28, 2014 22:15
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Jfyi, there won't be a video update this week. Atm, it's carnival season in Germany, so I'm going to be really drunk for the better part of the next few days. Sorry, but I take honoring our rich cultural traditions very seriously
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Feb 28, 2014 22:33
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Chapter 6 - Clear And Present Ranger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3uC1TnjLcI Mace speeds towards Fort Denver, to save senator Schmidt and finaly get some answers. Wildlife Ice Beast - On Korath, the Ice Beast fills roughly the same ecological niche that a polar bear does on earth. These nine-foot-tall shaggy bipeds hibernate throughout most of the day, emerging from their caves to feast on Korattan snappers or any other small prey they can find. On the hunt an ice beast is virtually invisible, and they have been known to pull an ice miner from his post without leaving a trace, beyond a flicker of white motion on a security camera. Their pelts are much prized, but only the bravest will hunt them on the ground. Not to much to say right now, because the one we saw was caged. But maybe, just maybe, we'll get to see a free one later on
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Mar 16, 2014 23:13
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Hey, folks! Sorry for the delay, but I had poo poo to do Soup Inspector posted:Agreed; Mace looks really distinctive in his initial get-up. Spudd posted:I just want to jump and say I god drat love all the music you're putting into your videos, it helped me discover a new genre of music that annoys my friends.  Yeah, I hear you. That particular part almost killed the LP. For real, I almost stopped playing. But to be fair, you also have to take into account that the game was developed for consoles, and had auto-aim in mind. That part is probably a lot easier with the console version. E: Also lol at the new layout. It enhances the space experience itt Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Mar 16, 2014 |
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Mar 16, 2014 23:30
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your evil twin posted:Ice beasts, cool bouncers, sexy pole dancers and your rad music! A recipe for a great video. Also, sorry for yet another delay! Since Spring is showing its face, people want to be outside and do things
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Mar 27, 2014 20:59
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Chapter 6 - Clear And Present Ranger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuSW3m1FbSo After saving the senator, Mace now has to get him back to a Senate ship that is waiting outside of Fort Denver. But there is a whole city filled with enemies between him and his ship.
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Mar 27, 2014 20:59
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 13:33 |
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radintorov posted:The moment in the blooper at the end where you turn to look towards where the space taxi is flying and then pause when you realize that you are no longer on it is just priceless. your evil twin posted:And yeah, the remote-explosive mode of the grenades is really quite useful. I really came to appreciate remote explosives in Blood Dragon, where I was chucking "C400" twice as often as actual ordinary grenades. It's really handy being able to lob an explosive a short distance, back off and then detonate a second later, rather than trying to chuck grenades and get the timing right and not have them blow up in your face.  Spudd posted:In the future all that exists are Snipers and porn outlets. Beautiful.
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Mar 31, 2014 15:24
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